The transport of axoplasmic material away from the cell body of the neuron was first clearly documented by Weiss and Hiscoe in 1948. (1) This transport phenomenon was later investigated by Droz and LeBlond (2) with radioactive tracers and has been sufficiently confirmed by workers in many laboratories. (3,4,5) It is currently believed that colchicine can effectively inhibit axonal transport (6,7,8), and does so by binding to the neurotubular subunit, tubulin.(9,10) Previous studies showed that topical application of colchicine to peripheral nerves (subepineural injections) or to the brain (intracisternal injections) have changed neurotubular ultrastructure. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of whole body injections of colchicine on the number of neurotubules in treated axons.
